Exactly. And why have people started adding the word ‘right’ to the end of any sentence believing that it turns that sentence into a question? It doesn’t. It makes the speaker sound thick and it makes me fucking angry.
The up accent at the end of even positive statements is what drives me crazy. Like you’re saying, “The sky is blue?” It speaks of a nervousness, a frailty in self-confidence. This started with the *everybody wins* regime in kids sports. And deep down, the kids know it’s bogus. There are winners and there are losers. But they have to go along with the adults’ crazy delusion. That morphed into the linguistic tic.
My 9 year old’s teachers are required to not only use green pens when marking but also to never use an X to show an incorrect answer.
If it’s wrong they just get a kind, little green, inoffensive dot. They don’t need to know they’re wrong that could damage them for life.
My own teachers liberally crossed out poor work in vast swathes of red ink, as we stood by their side to witness it first hand. Those same teachers were just as liberal with their words of encouragement and 10/10’s at the bottom of the page (still using the dangerous red ink) when the work was up to standard. There are many things that contribute to children not achieving their full potential and this ‘everyone gets a medal’ mentality is certainly one of them.
Oh my thirteen year old, a highly intelligent kid in all other respects, liberally sprinkles his sentences with "literally" and "like" 😂 but he must be forgiven, cos he will eschew mindless mindrot TV in favour of VSauce, which does in fact teach him something....one thing that the amount of lead in the populace (it's in our bones and everything) as a result of leaded petrol, is what may have made people more stupid for a time at least. Very interesting.
I'm not fond of rebranding either, the latest Kamala Harris (look! A fresh, new candidate who had NOTHING TO DO with Afghanistan or trump being shot....). And I don't know how Smith's keeps going either. I needed a very specific type of card once, Card Factory didn't sell them and paid £4 (yes, I know and I'm from Yorkshire my god the pain🤣) for it from Smith's.....
"Raising awareness." Back when I was a kid in the 1970s there was this non-profit called "The Hunger Project." It's stated goal was to "raise awareness" about world hunger. To assist in this effort you could either donate money to them, or pledge to fast one day a month in "solidarity" with the hungry. They eventually got called out on their non-profit status because they spent 0% of their proceeds on doing anything about hunger. They ceased to exist.
Fast forward to the 2010s. In Albuquerque there was a non-profit group called "A Million Bones" that rented office space downtown. It's purpose was to "raise awareness" about genocide, and they invited you to come in and make plaster casts of human bones which they would place in public spaces to "raise awareness." How this merging of kindergarten arts and crafts with performance art did anything to stop genocide I have no idea, but it did make me think back to "The Hunger Project" and realize they were ahead of their time!
"The first thing one learns in any decent writing school...." Well, sir. I think that all rests upon this foundation: ARE there any decent writing schools? Have there been any decent writing schools for, say, 30 years(+/-)? I further suggest that the curse of our age has as a meta-toxin that which goes under the execrable sobriquet "reimagined." I cringed at first hearing and I am now close to drooling gibberish upon its appearance in any context. Whether intended or not, it describes what has been done to society.
There are good journalism schools. Cardiff being the best.
But... a modern writer must study self-directed. There are plenty of old school books and manuals which will shape a writer. (Although, I'm yet to find one writer who is willing to do the work.) But no... English and Composition isn't a standard subject now. Which is criminal.
This is interesting, going to read it again. Thought about blocking you, but I’m not that witty
Hahahaha. Well, thank you for sparing me.
Exactly. And why have people started adding the word ‘right’ to the end of any sentence believing that it turns that sentence into a question? It doesn’t. It makes the speaker sound thick and it makes me fucking angry.
I confess that I sometimes use passive voice just to make my grammar checking thing mad.
The up accent at the end of even positive statements is what drives me crazy. Like you’re saying, “The sky is blue?” It speaks of a nervousness, a frailty in self-confidence. This started with the *everybody wins* regime in kids sports. And deep down, the kids know it’s bogus. There are winners and there are losers. But they have to go along with the adults’ crazy delusion. That morphed into the linguistic tic.
Quite literally? I think so? You see how this works? I'm not committing? To anything? 😁
My 9 year old’s teachers are required to not only use green pens when marking but also to never use an X to show an incorrect answer.
If it’s wrong they just get a kind, little green, inoffensive dot. They don’t need to know they’re wrong that could damage them for life.
My own teachers liberally crossed out poor work in vast swathes of red ink, as we stood by their side to witness it first hand. Those same teachers were just as liberal with their words of encouragement and 10/10’s at the bottom of the page (still using the dangerous red ink) when the work was up to standard. There are many things that contribute to children not achieving their full potential and this ‘everyone gets a medal’ mentality is certainly one of them.
David English, bless his soul, marked my first piece of journalism. In red Sharpie:
PATHETIC. DO YOU REALLY WANT TO WASTE YOUR OWN FUCKING TIME?
The last I had from him: Tightly written.
'Tightly written' was a Pulitzer at Cardiff journalism school.
And you probably found that a fair assessment on both occasions?
Oh my thirteen year old, a highly intelligent kid in all other respects, liberally sprinkles his sentences with "literally" and "like" 😂 but he must be forgiven, cos he will eschew mindless mindrot TV in favour of VSauce, which does in fact teach him something....one thing that the amount of lead in the populace (it's in our bones and everything) as a result of leaded petrol, is what may have made people more stupid for a time at least. Very interesting.
I'm not fond of rebranding either, the latest Kamala Harris (look! A fresh, new candidate who had NOTHING TO DO with Afghanistan or trump being shot....). And I don't know how Smith's keeps going either. I needed a very specific type of card once, Card Factory didn't sell them and paid £4 (yes, I know and I'm from Yorkshire my god the pain🤣) for it from Smith's.....
Hence Oxford Sour's Lead Paint Prize...
"Raising awareness." Back when I was a kid in the 1970s there was this non-profit called "The Hunger Project." It's stated goal was to "raise awareness" about world hunger. To assist in this effort you could either donate money to them, or pledge to fast one day a month in "solidarity" with the hungry. They eventually got called out on their non-profit status because they spent 0% of their proceeds on doing anything about hunger. They ceased to exist.
Fast forward to the 2010s. In Albuquerque there was a non-profit group called "A Million Bones" that rented office space downtown. It's purpose was to "raise awareness" about genocide, and they invited you to come in and make plaster casts of human bones which they would place in public spaces to "raise awareness." How this merging of kindergarten arts and crafts with performance art did anything to stop genocide I have no idea, but it did make me think back to "The Hunger Project" and realize they were ahead of their time!
And was your awareness sufficiently raised?
Yes, but not about either hunger or genocide...😂
😁😁😁😁
You're back! (Nuff said on that...)
"The first thing one learns in any decent writing school...." Well, sir. I think that all rests upon this foundation: ARE there any decent writing schools? Have there been any decent writing schools for, say, 30 years(+/-)? I further suggest that the curse of our age has as a meta-toxin that which goes under the execrable sobriquet "reimagined." I cringed at first hearing and I am now close to drooling gibberish upon its appearance in any context. Whether intended or not, it describes what has been done to society.
Be well, sir.
There are good journalism schools. Cardiff being the best.
But... a modern writer must study self-directed. There are plenty of old school books and manuals which will shape a writer. (Although, I'm yet to find one writer who is willing to do the work.) But no... English and Composition isn't a standard subject now. Which is criminal.